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  1. R

    FWC for full time living on road?

    Don't get me wrong, the FWC is a great camper, and if I were going to do what you are describing I would use mine as it is what I have and it would work well enough. However, if starting from scratch, there are other options that might work better for your circumstances. On this forum it is...
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    Mobius battery based power pack

    Aren't these 3 cell lithium ion packs - with an operating voltage more like 10V? While the battery packs themselves are cheap, it is going to take a bunch of work to make these work with a 12V nominal system and you don't know what the remaining lifetime of these are. It seems like not much...
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    delete

    Again, the experience of the hundreds of folks that have gone before you (myself included) is that this is not a problem. Even on much flexier framed vehicles (Tacoma) on all sorts of terrain, we have never had a problem. Bolts stay tight, camper stays in alignment and all the doors and...
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    FWC for full time living on road?

    I have a FWC Fleet Flatbed on. a Tacoma and have spent about a year living in it (but spread out over 5 years). I love my FWC/Tacoma, but for what you are describing I would seriously consider leaving your truck as is and getting a small trailer like a Scamp or a Casita. Assuming you are...
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    LiFeP04 charge controller recommendations

    I have been doing just this with a DC-DC converter and my MPPT solar charger for several years. Works well with no issues and you only need to program one device - the MPPT charge controller.
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    Rotopax / Fuelpax expansion in the sun

    Exactly. It is not so much the gasoline that is expanding and causing the rotopax to expand, it is the vapor pressure of the gasoline and the thermal expansion of these vapors. Filling all the way full may help a little, but there is really no way to avoid this. Unfortunately the rotopax...
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    FWC Hawk questions

    Yes that is a fuse or circuit breaker - it should be 30A or so. Whether the truck battery charges from the camper or not depends on which battery isolator is installed in your camper. The older campers typically came with Surepower isolators that were 'single sensing' and therefore wouldn't...
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    DIY 280Ah LiFePO upgrade for my Lance 815...

    Another interesting issue that I think has been misunderstood is the voltage needed to get a LiFePO4 up to 100% SOC (or very close to it). Any voltage at or above 13.6V will (eventually) get your battery to essentially 100% SOC. It may take a little longer as the current will be lower, but...
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    DIY 280Ah LiFePO upgrade for my Lance 815...

    This is the first I have heard of concern of a "Memory Effect' for LiFePO4. On some further reading it does appear that LiFePO4 does have a small 'memory effect' but this is primarily related to a voltage bump in the discharge curve not a reduction in capacity: Toyota LiFePO4 Memory Effect...
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    Second Alternator Charging Lithium Battery Bank

    Doesn't the LiFeBlue provide built in current monitoring (not control)? So you would know how much current it is drawing, and it will also shutdown charging if it is too high. To reduce the current, you can either dial down the alternator voltage, or add some resistance between the...
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    Second Alternator Charging Lithium Battery Bank

    If the B2B is fed from a battery, there is no issue from a 'load dump' as the battery up stream of the B2B is still in the circuit and will provide plenty of capacitance to the circuit. In the case where you have a LiFePO4 in parallel (and/or through an isolator) with the starting battery...
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    DIY 280Ah LiFePO upgrade for my Lance 815...

    One thing you really need to be a bit more careful about with both theses installations in a high vibration environment is insulating between the cells. With many or most of the aluminium cased LiFePO4 cells, the aluminium case is also the anode. As a result, the only thing preventing you...
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    Second Alternator Charging Lithium Battery Bank

    It is also not entirely clear how a B2B charger would protect against a BMS shutdown (aka a 'load dump')? The issue here is not so much that you will damage the alternator, but that when you suddenly disconnect a large load from the alternator, the output voltage of the alternator will spike...
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    Second Alternator Charging Lithium Battery Bank

    Before investing in a B2B, the best option would be to try your charging system with your lithium battery. If your alternator output voltage is high, and you have short and heavy wiring, then there is a slight chance of drawing more current than you want - but a test will reveal this...
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    Will any of the Garmins have better GPS than phone?

    As DaveInDenver points out, this capability is no longer built into the satellite constellation. Secondly, it would be pointless, as nefarious users could easily switch to one of the other GNSS systems which the US does not control.
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    Will any of the Garmins have better GPS than phone?

    Good info - but one slight addition, most modern receivers are far more than 12 channels (eg Ublox M8 is 72 channels), and will simultaneously receive GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, and Galileo.
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    Will any of the Garmins have better GPS than phone?

    This is wrong on so many levels. Yes, most phones have an actual GPS receiver, they work just like a standalone GPS when you don't have cell service. When you do have cell service, the phone GPS works better than a standalone GPS as it can also use the cell service to sync time and ephemeris...
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    Peer check on truck camper solar install

    One of the beauties of LiFePO4 is that the charge requirements are much simpler than lead acid. One or two stage charging to 14V is all you need, no float, no temperature compensation, no equalization or any of that stuff. They will generally accept full charge current up to ~95 - 98% SOC...
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    Looking for paddling suggestions - Moab area

    If you have an interest in moving water, the 'Moab Daily' on the Colorado just up stream of Moab is a great fun stretch, and you can almost certainly thumb a ride back to your put in on Hwy 191. It is class II-III so very doable in a canoe if you are experienced, and fun in inflatable...
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    delete

    Bolt down with appropriate backing plates works really well and is definitely the most elegant solution if you don't plan on removing the camper often. I have 5 years and 40,000 miles bolted to an aluminium flatbed with no issues and never needed to tighten anything.
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